Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

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44 FiKST Timothy I. 20.
sion drrcoadnevoi, " Laving cast oflp," denotes a wilful act. Bengal
rightly shews the reason of this, when he says : they have cast it
from them, as a troublesome monitor. The expression already points
to the tvavdyqaav^ according to which the good conscience is to be
conceived of as the anchor of faith. It is found also in a metaphorical
sense at Rom. xi. 1, 2 ; Acts vii. 39, xiii. 46 ; Prov. xxiii.
23 ; Hos. iv. 6 ; Ezek. xliii. 9. Conscience is a power in man which
contradicts him when he acts in opposition to it ; according to
which the expression arrwa. involves nothing unsuitable (against
Schleiermacher). The consequence of this casting off is the making
shijjivreck of faith. Uepi, " with respect to," Winer's Gr., § 49, i., p.
361. It is well-known how frequently this metaphor was applied
in the ancient church, representing the course of faith as a voyage.
Ver. 20.—As examples of this class, Hymeneus and Alexander
are named, who in this way have come not merely to the loss of
faith, but have even gone the length of blasphemy, and upon whom,
therefore, the apostle was compelled to exercise his apostolical power
of punishment. In 1 Cor. v. 5, we find a parallel to this conduct
on the part of the apostle. Olshausen remarks on this, that the
idea of excommunication certainly lies in it, but so as that without
the church of Christ we are«to conceive of the kingdom and power
of Satan (Acts xxvi. 18); he who is excluded from it becomes
thereby the prey of Satanic power. A comparison with 1 Cor. v.,
however, suggests the question whether something still more special
is not to be understood in our present passage. There, it is added,
that the giving over to Satan is to operate not only spiritually but
also physically. This implies that severe sufferings, disease and the
like, should come upon the person excommunicated, which should
have the effect of bringing him to reflection, in order that his soul
might be saved. Here also the salvation of the persons concerned
is the end which the apostle has in view. Nothing is here said of
bodily sufferings ;
but although all the church doctors explain this
formula as also a formula of excommunication, we yet do not find that
it was ever used as such, but always dvadefxa taTCj. It would seem
that the church has supposed that this phrase involved an apostolical
prerogative (comp. Acts v.)
Uaidevo) denotes here as at 1 Cor.
xi. 32 ; 2 Cor. vi. 9, etc., to instruct by discipline. BXaofprjiielv can,
in accordance with the context, be referred only to speaking evil of
that which is Divine, comp. vi. 1, and 2 Pet. ii. 10 ; Jude 8. Hymeneus
and Alexander are the persons in whom Timothy may see
an example of what the apostle has just maintained. Whether the
fact itself to which reference is here made, was already known to
Timothy or not, is of no importance for the apostle's object. But
the form of the reference shews, that the individuals must at all
events have been known to him. Whether both belonged to Ephesus